Luxury Four Seasons Resort Opens at WDW

Just buy the properties around yours and bulldoze for some space. Then, you have no annoying neighbors to worry about. I mean, it worked for Cedar Point with Geauga Lake. ;)

The more I hear stories like RCMAC's, the more I feel we made the right choice in moving to into a 4000+ sq. ft home in a rural area where we have a 4 acre lot surrounded by 65 acres of farmland on three sides. And our house sits about 1/4 mile from the road. Best part? No HOA. Bliss. And cost a weency fraction of 2 mil.

^^ Where do YOU live? That would cost about 2 million around here! I'm truly envious. Sounds fantastic.

Someone close to me that has money to burn explained to me that a lot of people just don't want to spend their money and time on landscaping and lawn maintenance. They'd rather sacrifice a bit of privacy for a more "convenient" lifestyle. Me personally, I would kill for a nice big yard and some privacy, but maybe I would feel differently if I lived in a Disney area.

Bunky666, that makes sense.

The Ritz Carlton Residences recently opened on Chicago's Magnificent Mile; I'm sure they're lovely, but the appeal of a home identical in layout to other residences in the building, on a street that used to be a rather exclusive shopping destination (Marshall Field's, Tiffany, Nieman-Marcus, high-end boutiques), but, these days, is as much mall as anything else (Gap, Disney Store, TGI Friday's, Victoria's Secret) escaped me.

If you have enough money to afford a Ritz Carlton Residence, why wouldn't you, I don't know, go buy Oprah's Indiana Farm or something?

But presumably a Golden Oaks home or a Ritz Carlton Residence isn't the primary residence. Not bothering with landscaping, etc, would be a consideration.

bunky666 said:

^^ Where do YOU live? That would cost about 2 million around here!

Very close to here.

Someone close to me that has money to burn explained to me that a lot of people just don't want to spend their money and time on landscaping and lawn maintenance. They'd rather sacrifice a bit of privacy for a more "convenient" lifestyle. Me personally, I would kill for a nice big yard and some privacy, but maybe I would feel differently if I lived in a Disney area.

Bingo. YMMV. I moved from a townhouse in a densely populated suburbia and got tired of being in the spotlight every time I walked out the front door to walk to the car or play with my kids outside. Whereas some people would gladly sacrifice privacy for convenience, I'd rather drive 50+ miles to work (it helps that one of my other passions is cars/driving/racing) than live amongst a mob of people.

Vater, never realized you were so close to me! I was thinking you lived in VA for some reason.

Slithernoggin, even with primary residences, people want to spend their money on things other than their yards more and more. I personally think I'd enjoy having more untouched land and less house rather than more house and worrying about a yard and mulching and stuff. Different strokes and all.

The setback distance on the sides in my neighborhood is five feet, so essentially a minimum of 10 feet total between houses. When they build all those goofy curves into the road, that means a lot of properties are wedge shaped, so our back is wider than the front.

Frankly, I'm OK with higher density. Urban sprawl isn't really a good thing, and I'm all for smarter master planning, being close to retail and work, etc. Living two miles from Cinderella Castle is OK too. Where I lived in Cleveland, there was barely enough room to get the car between houses. Now that I've lived in places with bigger lots, I'm not sure what the fascination with it is. Big yards are overrated.

Then I guess I managed to get the best of all worlds.

The closest house to ours is 154 feet away according to Google maps. Our yard is 3/4 of an acre on a cul-de-sac, wooded & natural and requires minimal maintenance. I don't have to drive more than 5 miles to anything that one would do on a regular basis with much of it within walking distance. (I've only put 18,000 on my daily driver in that past 38 months) And we have no HOA.

I win. Or something.

However, I am 796 miles from Cinderella Castle.

And I'm stuck with urban plots of land which most of you would see as no bigger than a postage stamp. Our house is about ten feet from the sidewalk, so no front yard to speak of, but we have a decent sized strip between the walk and the front porch for perennials and shrubs. Our back yard is mostly brick patio and what grass we have attempted died due to shade from a huge white pine (not our doing) and dog traffic. We don't own a lawn mower.

What I also have is a partner who is a talented gardener. He's managed to turn our small space into a showplace with container gardens, window boxes, ornamental trees, and a few beds. A few years ago we were featured on our neighborhood garden tour. He was raised in the country and we considered rural living for maximum land but we lucked into this place for cheap and decided the conveniences of city living outweighed everything else. So he makes do with what we have and I happily handle watering chores. Plus, no one's getting any younger and that's a consideration in terms of work and upkeep, especially as the years go by.

So it is what it is and everyone makes their own choices depending on convenience, what they can afford, their interests, and their abilities. But if I ever spend 2 million for a place where I can stand on my driveway, reach through a row of arborvitae and touch my neighbor's house let me know right away as there's been some huge mistake.

bunky666 said:

Vater, never realized you were so close to me! I was thinking you lived in VA for some reason.

I did, I lived about an hour and a half south of where I am now. We moved in June of last year.